These works are photograms of babies, a photogram being a photograph created without using a camera or lens. Employing color photographic paper, the work has to be carried out in total darkness and as a result, the position of the baby within the picture, as well as the pose it takes, remain a mystery until the print is developed. The models in this series are aged between two to six months old. This series resulted from a chance meeting with an obstetrician who had previously seen my work in a museum.1 She said to me, ‘Would you be interested in producing a series on the theme of babies? If so, I can help.’ After that, I visited her clinic from time to time and photographed newly-born babies. It was a strange experience to come face to face with beings that had not existed in ‘this world’ until a few hours earlier. While working on the series, I found myself thinking more and more about them. Where do babies come from? What kind of a world do they exist in before they enter ‘this world?’ Will I ever return to that other world? (I would like to point out that the babies I initially photographed at the clinic are different from the models used for this series.)

Text from the monograph Others From the Future, 2021

Others From the Future

Size: 290×200mm
Pages: 68 pages, 18 plates
Text: Ken Kitano
Editor and Book Designer: Satoshi Machiguchi
Assistant Book Designer: Minori Asada (MATCH and Company Co., Ltd)
Publisher: Ken Kitano
Distributed by bookshop M Co., Ltd.
Published in 2021
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